“I believe we will have to ride north,” said Lance, “and we will doubtless only see them after dark.”

“How far north?”

“Three or four leagues. They move about a bit.”

We had ridden for two days to reach the Circle. We had met a patrol earlier that morning and learned that the troops inside the thing continued to muster every night. They went through various drills and then were gone — to someplace deeper inside — with the coming of morning. A perpetual thunderhead, I learned, rode above the Circle, though the storm never broke.

“Shall we breakfast here and then ride north?” I asked.

“Why not?” said Ganelon. “I’m starved and we’ve time.”

So we dismounted and ate dried meat and drank from our canteens.

“I still do not understand that note,” said Ganelon, after belching, patting his stomach, and lighting his pipe. “Will he stand beside us in the final battle, or will he not? Where is he, if he intends to help? The day of conflict draws nearer and nearer.”

“Forget him,” I said. “It was probably a joke.”

“I can’t, damn it!” he said. “There is something passing strange about the whole business!”

“What is it?” asked Lance, and for the first time I realized that Ganelon had not told him.

“My old liege, Lord Corwin, sends an odd message by carrier bird, saying he is coming. I had thought him dead, but he sent this message,” Ganelon told him. “I still do not know what to make of it.”

“Corwin?” said Lance, and I held my breath. “Corwin of Amber?”

“Yes, Amber and Avalon.”

“Forget his message.”

“Why?”

“He is a man without honor, and his promise means nothing.”

“You know him?”

“I know of him. Long ago, he ruled in this land. Do you not recall the stories of the demon lordling? They are the same. That was Corwin, in days before my days. The best thing he did was abdicate and flee when the resistance grew too strong against him.”